Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls Killed in Unsolved Drive-By Shootings

Tupac Shakur was shot September 7, 1996 in Las Vegas and died September 13. Christopher Wallace (Biggie Smalls/Notorious B.I.G.) was killed in Los Angeles on March 9, 1997. Both murders remain officially unsolved. Their deaths marked the peak of the East Coast–West Coast hip-hop rivalry. Both artists were major cultural voices addressing police brutality, poverty, and Black urban experience in their work.